Several years ago my friend, Phil, interviewed for a job in Wichita, Kansas. After thoroughly researching the situation, he wasn’t sure what to do. He had grown tired of his job and wanted to move away, but something didn’t seem right about this new potential employer. He suspected some possible problems, so he reluctantly withdrew his name from consideration and remained at his job.

            For the next two years, Phil continually kicked himself for turning down the job. Every time something went wrong at his workplace, he thought about how happy he would’ve been if he had taken the position in Wichita.

            Then one day, on a flight to Chicago, a businessman sat down next to him. As they conversed, Phil asked him what he did for a living. The man shared he had taken a job two years earlier in Wichita but absolutely hated it—almost daily there was trouble in the office. It didn’t talk long for Phil to realize that this man had accepted the position at the company where he had applied two years earlier!

            Phil was flabbergasted. For two long years he thought he had made a mistake by turning down the job. Instead, he discovered that God had protected him from a horrible nightmare. Seemingly, the Lord had arranged this divine appointment to reveal the agony he would’ve experienced if he had taken the job. He should have been thanking God during those two years instead of regretting his decision.

(Kent Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2004, 21-22)

          The grizzly bear is the meanest animal in the forest.  It can terminate the life of any other creature with one swipe of its paw.  There is one animal that the grizzly bear will not attack.  He has even allowed this animal to eat with him, even though it is his adversary.

          The animal I am talking about is the skunk.  The grizzly bear does not like the skunk, but he has decided it is better to coexist with him than to create a stink!  Sometimes it is better to learn how to get along with the skunk in your life than fight him and make your situation even worse. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 23)